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Book Summary and Reviews of The Whyte Python World Tour by Travis Kennedy

The Whyte Python World Tour by Travis Kennedy

The Whyte Python World Tour

A Novel

by Travis Kennedy

  • Readers' Rating (19):
  • Publishes:
  • Jun 24, 2025, 416 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Rikki Thunder, drummer for hot new '80s metal band Whyte Python, is about to get it all: global fame...a dream girlfriend—and an unwitting role as an international spy.

It's Los Angeles, 1986, and metal rules the world. For aspiring drummer Rikki Thunder, life is good—even if he is sleeping in a condemned paint store and playing with a band that's going nowhere. But when he gets a shot to join L.A.'s hottest up-and-coming band, Whyte Python, Rikki's young life turns up to 11. Soon he has a hit single scorching up the charts, and the new love of his life in the audience. Rikki couldn't ask for anything more.

But good fortune can be deceiving. With the Cold War breathing its last gasps and American music blasting through the Iron Curtain, a youth revolution is taking hold – and a hair band is unknowingly playing host to the final battle for the hearts and minds of the Eastern Bloc. Rikki Thunder soon realizes there is a deeper web of influence propelling Whyte Python, and the stakes for his mission—to spread peace, love, and epic shredding across the globe—are far more dangerous than he could ever imagine.

Raucously funny and refreshing, The Whyte Python World Tour is a head-banger of a debut, steeped in '80s music culture nostalgia and international suspense.

Visit their site:meet the band.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Packed with cameos from heroes of glam metal like Steven Tyler and Bret Michaels, musical montages and lyrics, and a juvenile humor that winks at, rather than worships its subjects, this offbeat gem does for metal dudes what Daisy Jones & the Six does for the yacht-rock crowd. A nostalgic, headbanging comedy about rock 'n' roll refugees." —Kirkus Reviews

"Kennedy nimbly heightens suspense via numerous twists...without neglecting the story's ample comic possibilities...A diverting dive into the paranoid past." —Publishers Weekly

"A rock 'n' roll thrill ride... . The Whyte Python World Tour feels like a cross between a harrowing episode of Behind the Music and a Roger Moore–era James Bond flick. Heavy metal icon Rikki Thunder's satirical memoir is sweeter than cherry pie and better than a prescription from Dr. Feelgood! You need to read it." —Ernest Cline, bestselling author of Ready Player One

This information about The Whyte Python World Tour was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Jennie W. (Denver, CO)

A Fun Read
A fun and original story of 80's glam metal and espionage. The story of Rikki Thunder, a glam metal drummer who gets caught up in a CIA operation to end the cold war is unique and entertaining. Amusing characters and humorous dialogue make this a quick and easy read.

Rebecca R

Loved It From Page One !!!
This is how I like to feel about a book - an interesting story from the moment I open the book and start reading. At the front of the book, the Vice-President and Executive Editor of Doubleday introduces this book as "a rare bolt of crackling joy;" Since I totally agreed, I emailed him and told him how thrilled I was to have received The White Python World Tour via BookBrowse.

Author Travis Kennedy is an incredible story teller - a fun story that maintains a good pace and is hard to put down. The story of Rikki Thunder, a drummer in a barely-getting-by new band which is trying to make a name for itself in Hollywood, feels very believable with references to the Roxy, Whiskey A GoGo, Tower Records and more. Then just as a reader is enjoying the partying and music, there are surprisingly heart-tugging moments with the story of how Rikki segued into music as a child. Best of all, the plot rolls along smoothly while incorporating this backstory as well as all the other totally unexpected thriller twists and turns. I don't believe in spoiling a book for future readers who may like to go into a fiction novel as blindly as possible, making surprises a surprise for all.

Do I think this book will become a film or made-for-television series? Yes.

And by the way, the editor did respond to my email.

Brenda W. (Wilkes Barre, PA)

A Rocking Good Read!
I am so excited about The White Python World Tour by Travis Kennedy.
This book was an excellent read. I really felt like I was there for the ride. I highly recommend reading this book.

This book was like reliving my teen years in the 80s. It really is well written and it sure does feel like the 80s again. A real blast from the past. You will be rooting for Rikki Thunder to achieve his dreams. He is so likable.

Tawny Spice is smarter band more calculating than she seems. She surprised me.
This book is more than metal bands . It has intrigue and suspense. There is so much to like about this book. Plenty of drama, very realistic . Even song lyrics, not real songs but you can imagine them as real. An enjoyable escape from life read. I will be awaiting more from Travis Kennedy. Rock on!!

Terrie J. (Eagan, MN)

Great book
This book was about the success of a rock star with espionage thrown into the mix. It truly depicted a rock star's life and the issues one faces when in that career. When someone sees an opportunity to use that success in espionage, the book takes new twists and turns. This book held my interest from the beginning, and it was very well written. I think it was realistic that this situation could happen. I would recommend this book for mature readers.

Catherine O. (Altavista, VA)

Quirky and Fun
The Whyte Python World Tour was a fun trip. It is so difficult in this world of many, many books to come across an uplifting and original novel like this. The writing was descriptive, the characters jumped off the pages. Reading this book was just like watching a movie in my head. I really felt like I knew the characters. Rikki Thunder is an amazing narrator!

I think any reader would have get a kick out of this book, outlandish and yet believable at the same time. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a fun read, anyone who is interested in music, especially 80s rock, and anyone who likes memorable characters with heart. I hope my book club will choose to join me on the Whyte Python World Tour, I think they will love it!

Lesley F. (San Diego, CA)

When Does the Movie Premiere?!?!
What a hoot to read about a late-80s heavy-metal rock band "on the road" in eastern Europe in the final months of the Cold War after becoming a huge hit stateside. With an assist from the CIA, the band gets into the youth revolution taking hold there, and we are in a festival of music, spies, and scary bad stuff going down, as the band tries to spread peace, love, and rock-and-roll over the eastern world, and spy organizations try to win the cold war. This was a great read.

The characters are often over the top as befits this wild story but they are personable and believable, too. I will be buying several copies soon for my Gen-X kids who were in rock bands, on the road, or writing songs, and keeping one in memory of their father with whom I could say long ago: "I'm with the band"....

...13 more reader reviews

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Author Information

Travis Kennedy

Travis Kennedy is the grand prize winner of Screencraft's 2021 Cinematic Book Contest for Sharks in the Valley, to be published as Welcome to Redemption. His work has been recognized in the Best American Mystery Stories anthology (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019). He has been featured in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and multiple editions of the Best New England Crime Stories anthology, among other publications. He lives in Scarborough, Maine, with his wife and their two children.

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